Thursday, August 29, 2013

I borrowed this analogy from a friend on another blog site. I liked what he had to say, so I expanded a little on what he wrote. It's very simplistic, but the message is still clear.

People often say, “God loves everybody just they way they are.” That may be true, but He also loves us too much to let us remain in our sin.

We cannot enter the kingdom of heaven in our present unsaved condition. We must be born again to enter the kingdom of God.

Those who are not born again believers in Christ continue living with their spiritual connection with God severed. It’s not until we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that this spiritual connection is repaired, offering us a direct line of communication with God and giving us the opportunity to begin building a lifelong relationship with Him.

God has revealed to us that we are sinners and unless that condition changes, we can’t enter into His kingdom. Look at it this way... Just as you refuse to let somebody walk through your clean house with muddy boots on, God has a requirement for His home too. You love your child, but he isn’t coming in the house until he takes off those muddy boots, no matter how much he sweet-talks you or tries to use his intellect to convince you otherwise.

It’s the same with God. He’s pretty much saying, “Come to me dirty, just the way you are.” He even kneels down and takes those filthy boots off of us; all we have to do is let Him. But people still refuse to repent; still refuse to go through the trouble of taking off their dirty boots, claiming those boots will be coming into God’s house in spite of what He says.

We all have a choice. Do we take off those filthy boots or do we remain outside of God’s kingdom forever.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The demise of Damascus is prophesied in Isaiah 17:1 "The burden against Damascus. "Behold, Damascus will cease from [being] a city, And it will be a ruinous heap."

This prophecy has not been fulfilled (as of the date of this article), and it makes one wonder how the Lord will bring about the destruction of Damascus. As we can see, things are again heating up in the region as reports circulate about the deaths of innocent civilians occuring as a result of the use of biological weapons. Whether the regime or the rebels had control of those weapons we may never know, but the fact is that there is an outcry from world leaders for the United States to step in and bring down the regime. What could be the result of US involvement in a strike against Syria?

Here is the scenario that I see if the US makes the decision to proceed with a military option:

Syria and Iran have already threatened to fire missiles against Israel if the United States takes military action against Syria. They already have missiles aimed at Israel, so it wouldn't take but a push of a button to trigger them. If the United States strikes Syria, Syria and Iran will have to fire on Israel. They've been waiting for a good excuse to rid themselves of that nation and it's people since Israel first declared themselves an independant state in 1948 (and officially became a nation in 1949), and an attack on Syria may be just the trigger needed to set the whole Damascus prophecy in motion.

If Syria and/or Iran fires even one biological weapon at Israel, we can expect Israel to defend itself by pulling out the big guns and firing a nuclear weapon against Syria. What would be the logical target? Damascus, the center of terrorist activity in the region; the nation that has provided terrorist organizations protection, financing and weapons. The blast of a nuclear weapon would destroy the capital of Syria and make it a "ruinous heap" as the prophecy foretold.

The question I would then ask is this: Would the use of a nuclear weapon and the destruction of Damascus bring about a quick response from neighboring countries and Russia resulting in the war of Gog and Magog? This is also part of biblical prophecy and can be found in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Although the attacking forces will come against Israel from all sides, God intervenes and brings about the end of the war supernaturally. This attack will devastate the military forces of Israel's enemies.

Once this happens, the surrounding Arab countries will have no defense against Israel's military might. Could this be the incident that finally brings some peace to the region? Could this be what prophecy states as a time of "peace and safety" for Israel? Will this allow Israel finally feel it can rest and not have to be on constant guard against the enemies that surrounded her in the past?

Whether biblical prophecy is fulfilled in the coming days or not, I still eagerly await the Lord's return for His bride... us. What a glorious day that will be. Praise God who was, who is and is to come!

Saturday, August 03, 2013

I just read the book, "The New Temple and the Second Coming" by Grant R Jeffrey. There were a few intesing bits of information that I found fascenating. Some of you who have kept up with recent events surrounding the plans for the Third Temple will undoubtedly find this information redundant, but I know that there are some readers who will find this article informative. Most of what I will write below will be quoted from the book.

The Discovery of the Oil of Anointing

An archaeological team discovered a clay vessel that contained oil that had solidified to the consistancy of molasses. When the oil was analized, it was shown to be composed of five ingredients, exactly as God commanded Moses (Exodus 30:23-26, 30-31). Intensive testing by the Dept. of Hebrew Univ. established that the oil inside the clay vessel was the ancient oil of anointing. It was given to two chief rabbis of Israel for safe keeping.

One of the five ingredients in this oil is the rare persimmon or balsam (afarsimon) oil. There were only two groves in the whole Middle East where the precious balsom trees grew. When it became apparent that the Romans were going to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, priests burned the two groves to keep them out of the hands of the Romans. With their destruction, it became impossible to reconstitute the ancient oil of anointing. Without the oil of anointing, it would seem to be impossible to anoint the sacred objects and the priests. However, the discovery of this ancient sample of the oil of anointing makes it possible to anoint the Temple, the sacred vessels and the priests.Special Blue DyeThe Bible records that many of the special garments, including the avnet-belt of the high priest, must be dyed with a special blue dye known as tchelet. This dye was produced from a rare mollusk found only in the Mediterranean Sea, a marine creature long thought to be extinct. However, in the late 1990's, Israeli divers discovered the mollusk, the hillazon snail, in the Red Sea. A thick liquid is extracted from a gland in the mollusk to produce the rich blue dye. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has created a supply of the blue dye, which will be used to create the garments required in Temple worship... and used to produce the tsitsit fringes worn by observant Jewish males in the temple. The unspun wool for the priestly robes is dipped in this liquid, turning the wool a bright green. When the new green wool is exposed to the light, it takes on a rich blue color. Once it dries, the wool is spun into a blue thread.

Ashes of the Red Heifer

The Third Temple cannot be built and used for worship until the appropriate area on the Temple Mount is ritually purified using waters of purification from the ashes of an unblemished red heifer. The ashes from the burned sacrifice will be mixed with water, scarlet thread, cedar, and hyssop, producing the waters of purification. Then the priest will sprinkle the water on the stones of the Temple Mount, the priests and the Temple vessels according to the Bible's commands as recorded in Num. 19.

A pure red heifer is very rare... Jewish authorities are raising a number of red heifers in Israel so they will have a qualified candidate when they receive a divine sign that the time has come to rebuild the Temple.

But do we need a red heifer? Could ashes from the last red heifer be found just as the oil of anointing was found?

During the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, priests took the ashes from the Temple in a vessel called the Kalal, a container made with clay and dung from a previous red heifer. The Essene priests buried the container holding the ashes near Qumran, along with a great number of the sacred objects (including the oil of anointing, which has already been discovered). The chief rabbis believe the recovery of the ashes of the red heifer... is key to rebuilding the Temple.

We are witnesses to the fulfilling of numerous prophecies as we live and breathe in this era of biblical history. We are filled with hope as we anticipate the return of our Messiah. We are encouraged by the progress of the Temple Institute and other organizations in retrieving Temple artifacts and discovering clues to the exact location of the First and Second Temples.